Local mental health charity Mid and North East Essex Mind has given a huge vote of thanks to Brightlingsea WinterFest for a welcome donation of £897.
The donation was made possible by the resounding success of this year’s WinterFest, Brightlingsea’s annual festival of music, arts and spoken word. The 2023 WinterFest linked with the first ever Brightlingsea Literary Festival, presented by the town’s BrightWords Creative Writing Group.
The two festivals ran alongside each other throughout February, with a packed programme of 27 events at venues across Brightlingsea.
Donations given at the events raised a total of £4,500, with most of the money going in to the WinterFest Wellbeing Fund to help local people. WinterFest has also continued its long-standing link with Mind, giving a proportion of the funds raised each year to the charity.
Karen Mitchell, income generation manager for Mid and North East Essex Mind said: “We were privileged to have been selected, once again, by WinterFest as a charity partner for donations from this year’s event.
“We are so grateful to all the team at Winterfest for their recent donation of £897, taking their total donations to Mid and North East Essex Mind to over £10,000.
“These funds will be used to provide a range of services to support mental health in the community, with a focus on Brightlingsea, where we are planning some specific activities.
“A great deal of hard work and effort goes into WinterFest every year and it is a shining example of how a community working together to support those in need can deliver such great results.”
Members of the WinterFest and Literary Festival crew, Jevon Ellis, Dave Griffiths, Ruth Loten and Alix Sheppard are pictured presenting the donation to Wendy Bixby, fundraising manager for Mid and North East Essex Mind.